Delay Is Denial Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

Every verse
That I penned to you
Is the reverberation
Of my air-sacs,
Is the vibration
Of my pulses,
Is the throbs
Of my heart,
Is the beats
Of my arteries
And is the vibes
Of my nerves,
That you can’t ignore.

Whether or not
Responsive to my impulse,
Whether or not
You echo my aspiration,
Whether or not
You perceive my perspiration,
You cannot deny
That it is I
Who made you know
Your beauty,
Who made you grow
Younger and younger,
Who made you glow
Brighter and brighter,
And who uncovered
Your buried passion.

How could it be
That you’re ungrateful,
That you’re heartless,
Pity-less and unrelenting,
Notwithstanding
The affected heart,
The disturbed mind,
And the fragile frame?
How can you be
What you are?

My unbent ego
Is bent before you
And bent on you.
My unsoiled image
Is at stake
For your sake.
Going on kicking
Is also foolery.
bearing its kicking
Ever long is equally foolery.

My empathy for you
Is total and categorical.
Your sympathy for me
Is vital and crucial.
Your apathy towards me
Is brutal and fatal.

Show me
That you have relented.
Show me
That you have thawed.
You are sharp to grasp.
Why do you want from me
A kind of parrot teaching?
Is it due to shy or fright?

Delayed action
Or denied action
Resulting at
Same reaction.
11.10.99